Mary Barzee Flores (S.D. of FL)

Returned to PresidentJanuary 3, 2017

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) blocked a hearing on President Obama’s Feb. 26, 2015 nomination of Mary Barzee Flores to the Southern District of Florida federal trial court. The nomination was returned to the President on January 3, 2017.

Sen. Rubio never submitted his home-state senator “blue slip” that is needed to schedule a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) submitted his blue slip on Feb. 26, 2015, the day of the nomination, which was jointly recommended by both Florida senators based on their bipartisan Florida Judicial Nominating Commission’s exhaustive vetting and Sept. 5, 2014 recommendation that was praised by a Miami Herald Editorial.

Sen. Rubio's position was in stark contrast to his many fellow Republican Senators who worked with the Obama White House and filled all court vacancies in their states and those who continued to do so throughout 2016: